Samsung Galaxy Gear vs Sony SmartWatch 2 vs Qualcomm Toq: Hit or Miss?

Last night Samsung finally unveiled its Galaxy Gear smartwatch, confirming the rumours that had been doing the rounds in the technology world, although the Gear looked visibly different from the 3-inch screen-sporting monstrosity which had come up a few days back. But Samsung wasn’t the only company which announced a smartwatch yesterday. Qualcomm, the world leader when it comes to system-on-chips, unveiled its new smartwatch, Toq, which takes a different approach. Sony had already announced its SmartWatch 2 in June, but it had it on display at IFA yesterday. So which one will ultimately climb the popularity charts when it eventually launches, let’s take a look.

Samsung Galaxy Gear

The Galaxy Gear is Samsung’s first major foray into wearable devices

Samsung has finally entered the smartwatch space with the Galaxy Gear. It has a beautiful design, sports a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED screen with a 320x320 pixel resolution and is expected to come out in early October for a USD 299 price point (approx. Rs. 20,000). The Galaxy Gear will sadly work only with Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets for now. On launch Samsung announced compatibility with the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Note 10.1 and software updates for Galaxy S4, Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Note II will be out soon. Just like its phone counterparts, the Galaxy Gear will not only act as a notification screen for your Galaxy phones and tablets, but do a lot more. Samsung has announced support for close to 70 apps at launch, which can be installed via the Galaxy Gear Manager app on your smartphone. The Gear also sports a 1.9MP camera which is located on the wrist strap and pictures can be stored on the 4GB memory of the Gear. It has on board a microphone and speaker as well so you can receive calls and speak into the device and thereby live out your old sci-fi dream. The Gear will also support voice control using S Voice. The Galaxy Gear sports a 315 mAh battery which will last for a day’s worth of use according to Samsung.

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Sony SmartWatch 2

Sony Smartwatch 2

The Sony SmartWatch 2 was unveiled at an event in UK back in June, but it was also on display at IFA Berlin yesterday. This is Sony’s second outing in the smartwatch category and the SmartWatch 2 sports a 1.6-inch 220x176 pixel transreflexive LCD display. Thanks to its display type, Sony claims that you can use the watch for upto 7 days on light use and 3-4 days on regular use. It is compatible with Android devices which have to have at least Android 4.0 OS via Bluetooth. It can also connect to near-field communication (NFC) enabled Android smartphones. It comes with a rubber strap and a metallic strap with the metallic version costing around 199 Euros (approx. Rs18,000). The SmartWatch 2 acts as a notifications screen and can act as your music controller. It has support for most of the popular apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Calender, Weather and so on apart from SMS and call handling support. Unlike the Galaxy Gear, the Sony SmartWatch 2 does not sport a camera or speaker/mic features. No details on the innards of the device are available but online discussions claim that it sports the older 200 MHz Cortex M3 SoC.

Qualcomm Toq

Will let you manage phone calls, text messages, meeting reminders and other notifications

Qualcomm did surprise the tech community by announcing a wearable device - the Toq Smartwatch. Paul Jacobs, the CEO and Chairman of Qualcomm, stated that there will be limited production of the Toq smartwatch and it is just an attempt to showcase what can be attempted with the form factor. The Toq takes a very different approach to this category thanks to its use of the Qualcomm Mirasol transreflective display which allows the watch to have an always on display and a battery life that will last for 3-4 days on a regular usage. The Toq runs on a 200 MHz ARM Cortex M3 and connects to your Android 4.0.3 (and up) devices via Bluetooth. The Toq features Qualcomm’s proprietary operating system and they have kept the feature set minimal. So you do not have a microphone or speaker or camera on the Toq. Just like the other smartwatches described above, the Toq too acts as a notification screen and allows the wearer to manage phone calls, text messages, meeting reminders and other notifications from their wrist. Qualcomm has promised to continue adding more functionality to Toq in the form of software upgrades. One unique feature that makes the Toq stand apart from competition is wireless charging support using Qualcomm’s WiPower LE technology. Additionally, you can also get an optional Bluetooth headset.

| Micro USB charging | Wireless charging | | Compatibility | Samsung Galaxy devices | Devices with Android 4.0 and up | Devices with Android 4.0.3 and up | | Estimated Pricing (In Rupees) | Rs 20,000 | Rs 18,000 | Rs 20,000 |

Verdict
If one goes purely by specifications, the Samsung Galaxy Gear looks like a winner, but it is not as simple as that. Sure Samsung Galaxy Gear offers the most number of features, in fact a lot of them may seem overkill at first glance. For instance, the presence of a camera? How difficult is it to remove your smartphone from your pocket, if you want to capture an image? Also the Galaxy Gear is handicapped by the low battery life as compared to its peers and also compatibility with only Samsung Galaxy devices when other smart watches work with other Android devices is a bummer. Even with Samsung devices, the Gear is only expected to work with the higher end Samsung Galaxy devices. Why this discrimination for what is essentially a companion to the smartphone is beyond our understanding.

Considering Sony SmartWatch 2 is in its second generation, it definitely has an advantage in the sense that it may have learnt, from its previous outing, what apps work and what don’t on a smartwatch. Sadly, apart from the water resistance and the transreflective screen, the SmartWatch 2 does not carry much of a wow factor in terms of specs.

The Qualcomm Toq offers a simple design, minimal features and the Mirasol display promises great battery life despite the screen being always on. We had seen prototypes of Mirasol display based e-readers, but somehow they were never commercially manufactured. With the Mirasol display on a smartwatch Qualcomm is trying something beyond just the LCD display that we are seeing on other smart watches. A 3-day battery life is great if it actually works that long in a real-world scenario.

Pricing of these devices is a bit of a bother as all of them are hovering around the Rs 20,000 mark - a high price by any stretch of imagination. In that amount you can get another decent smartphone. 

So it all boils down to what you are looking for in a smartwatch and that will ultimately influence your buying decision. Samsung will put all its marketing strength behind the Galaxy Gear which was already in the news much before its launch date yesterday. Looking at the trend of the Galaxy S series and Note series of smartphones, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Gear sells lots of units. The things in Qualcomm Toq’s favour are its battery life and wireless charging support. As for the Sony SmartWatch 2 which is priced comparatively lower, the advantage apart from the cost lies in its lead time.

The stage is set for Apple. If it does indeed plan to come out with its own smartwatch, the rumoured iWatch, will the company deliver? We shall find out on the 10th.